I have mine connected to the Samsung HW-E450 soundbar, but I haven't used it too much yet other than just to test it out. The speakers are actually really impressive on the tv so I've been using that primarily, other than for full blu-rays of course when I use my receiver and surround speakers.

Just got back from my local Public Library. Since my new F8000 is coming in a couple days,I thought I would pick up a 3D title to test my new LED TV.
They listed quite a few 3D DVD's but I picked "Journey To The Center Of The Earth 2008 Version" in 3D... This is just an idea for anyone who doesn't want to purchase
a New 3D DVD. Some people have problems with 3D viewing. "Research Shows 3-D Movies, TV Can Cause Eye Strain, Headaches"... So I thought I would do a test...
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One more thing, the Free Samsung Tab 2 7.0 with F8000 purchase "Now through 5/18/13 only!"... "The Peel Smart Remote app". Some people are have problems with it...
Quote from site... "*** IMPORTANT ***
For some devices, your IR might stop working if you have Power Saving mode ON.
Samsung is working on a fix. Meanwhile, to use IR, Power Saving mode needs to be turned OFF in Settings."
Also I would read some of the "One Star Reviews"...

No worries... I'm just giving you a little jazz. Feel free to retaliate if I give you the opportunity.

You're actually a pretty good writer, but those little spelling quirks bug me for some reason--like people using "loose" instead of "lose".

I guess spell check is not always our friend...

I'm the same way actually. Spelling errors bug me too, but more so, improper use of certain words (to instead of too kills me). I often wonder what it's like to be an English teacher these days and trying to read forums - it must make them want to cry daily.

I've noticed that the semi-colon gets no love anymore. People just use commas instead. What ever happened to the semi-colon? I have one right here; it's great for separating thoughts within a sentence.

I'm the same way actually. Spelling errors bug me too, but more so, improper use of certain words (to instead of too kills me). I often wonder what it's like to be an English teacher these days and trying to read forums - it must make them want to cry daily.

I've noticed that the semi-colon gets no love anymore. People just use commas instead. What ever happened to the semi-colon? I have one right here; it's great for separating thoughts within a sentence.

I got it from my father. His mother was his english teacher, and his father was superintendent of schools.

First Impression: Awesome remote! Feels very high quality. Nicely illuminated - not super-bright, but plenty bright for night use, and even with my room lights on the illumination was easily visible. All buttons light, and the illumination is multi-colored. There are also several raised etchings for some buttons, to help you better get a feel for where you are without needing to look at the remote. The brushed metal finish is very nice, and the remote has a nice weight to it. All buttons function as expected - I can access picture size, 3D mode, settings menu, tools, last channel - the only thing I can't access with this remote is the "more" function, which shows the small window on the bottom of the screen, which can be used to access additional functions - but this is mostly unnecessary anyways because this is a full remote so you don't need the "More" menu to access playback controls, numerical keypad, and other options. The only things in the "More" menu that you don't have access to is a few shortcut keys such as Amazon, Netflix, speaker settings, PIP, Guide (STB), and status, which pops up a small bar with additional shortcuts to voice and motion settings, your Samsung account, and notifications. So other than the "more" function, everything works great. There is a guide button on the remote, but it brings up the tv formatted guide with your channel listings - it doesn't access the cable-box guide, which is what "Guide (STB)" does under "More". Of course there is no voice button either. But for 99% of the time, all the buttons you will ever need is here - for the other 1% you've got the touch remote.

By the way I got this for $10, including free shipping, from Ebay! Check Ebay for that remote - there are several dealers from Asia that sell these brand new dirt cheap - mine arrived in about a week and a half, and it appears new - there was no box but it arrived in the standard Samsung remote wrapping exactly like the touch remote comes in, with the Samsung blue "passed" sticker keeping it closed. I couldn't be happier with this remote - for $10 it's the best deal you could find on a quality Samsung remote.

Hey guys. I know I'm being semi lazy for not perusing the 107 pages in here but what's the verdict on this set thus far. The reviews on Best Buy's website are great and CNET hasn't reviewed it yet. It it really the best LED on the market right now? I've been dragging my feet waiting on the Sony W900 but Best Buy doesn't have that set yet and it's reviews are mixed thus far.

Hey guys. I know I'm being semi lazy for not perusing the 107 pages in here but what's the verdict on this set thus far. The reviews on Best Buy's website are great and CNET hasn't reviewed it yet. It it really the best LED on the market right now? I've been dragging my feet waiting on the Sony W900 but Best Buy doesn't have that set yet and it's reviews are mixed thus far.

Uniformity is great, with no flashlighting nor clouding. Blacks are inky and consistent with the Smart LED mode enabled. Colors are quite vibrant, as well. The set requires very little adjustments out of the box (though I personally prefer the Standard color temperature over Warm 2). Samsung has a best-in-class smart TV platform that responds quickly and has numerous apps. Viewing angles are poor. Input lag for gaming is high at around 100ms unless the source is renamed to PC from a drop down list, which brings it down to a more manageable level of 30-40ms. Renaming the source to PC does disable quite a number of options, however.

As a gamer, the high input lag is disappointing, but the picture quality of the F8000 in general is quite engaging and sharp. It's much better than the Samsung LED DLP I came from.

Thanks for the summary. You almost had me sold until we got to the input lag. I remember that was part of the reason I didn't get the set when it came out. I know the W900 has almost no lag (comparable to CRT sets) however as I stated earlier the early reviews are mixed. Ugh. Why can't there just be a set where I pay my hard earned money and get something back that does everything we need it to do.

HDTVtest's review of the W900A sounds incredibly promising. Now I'm kind of wishing I would have waited until more 2013 sets were out. But at the time the list price was 3,300 for the W900A, so I went with the F8000. Naturally, now that I made my choice, Sony drops the price to a comparable level.

On the other hand, I'm reading comments about poor uniformity, halo and banding issues with the W900A. My Sony HX850, the predecessor to the W900A, certainly had some strong vertical banding.

So yeah, finding the right TV is a struggle. All I can say is that with the source renamed to PC, I have no problems playing games on the F8000. That does disable most picture modes, but I still didn't notice any uniformity issues. The downside is that I couldn't use Auto Motion Plus with games to reduce blur.

Thank you for the clarification. I have an UN65ES8000 and was debating whether I should return it and get the UN65F8000 instead. The ES has banding it is only noticeable on light gray/green scene it is really annoying at times (thank God I don't watch hockey or gulf), but the viewing angles and gaming lags on the F are deal breaker for me (PS3 & WII U gamer here). I wish I could afford the Sony 4k Ultra HD tv, it is GORGEOUS! But at $70000 I draw a line.

I had the 65ES8000 but the banding killed me, i traded "down" to the 60F8000 because i cant afford the 65. I have to say I am completely happy with this set. This is coming from someone that traded in their XBR3 4 times. it is super black, super uniform. I have no flashlights or clouding even after extended viewing periods (i still swear heat makes clouding worse) in a pitch black room. no dead pixels, and I game in PC mode where latency is just fine for me.

This is the best TV I have ever seen and I am completely happy with my purchase.

Thanks for the summary. You almost had me sold until we got to the input lag. I remember that was part of the reason I didn't get the set when it came out. I know the W900 has almost no lag (comparable to CRT sets) however as I stated earlier the early reviews are mixed. Ugh. Why can't there just be a set where I pay my hard earned money and get something back that does everything we need it to do.

I would also like to comment that flashlighitng is not always great on these sets. My first one looked great but had a dead pixel. My second one had pretty bad flashlighting and a dead pixel. I just got my third one yesterday and I haven't set it up yet so I don't know how this one will compare.

Clouding seems to be a non-issue, as both sets so far had no clouding, but flashlighting remains an issue.

[Don't know why we have two separate threads on the F8000, but thought I would post here as well for those interested...]

Background:
I had 4 different UN65ES8000 sets delivered by Amazon over the last 4-5 months. All had stuck or dead pixels (or both) and the banding on all 4 sets was unacceptable (note: EVERY panel above 55"-60" regardless of manufacturer is going to have some vertical banding). All of those sets were returned. (Note: Amazon also initially did a horrible job of delivery with those sets sending a 1-man crew to deliver a set that requires 2 people to carry properly.) I just could not swallow spending $3500 on a set where the picture had so many issues.

Review:

Ordered the UN65F8000 from Amazon. Was delivered this week with a new delivery company (seems Amazon finally got the message). 2-person crew, very careful and nice.

Build:
The build quality on the 65" F8000 is far above that of the old ES series. It irked me that the ES series frame had metal edges that were just "bent" into place and didn't even join entirely at the corners. The back panel was also an eyesore. The overall fit and finish is not what you would have expected of a $3500 set. The F8000 improves on all of these points. There are no seams at the corners, there is a continuous metal band that wraps around the entire set. The bezel is small and unobtrusive - very sleek, very minimalist. The camera is no longer fixed at the top of the set and the Samsung logo at the bottom of the bezel has been reduced significantly in size. Overall, the package is just about perfect. Without going to an edge-to-edge glass design, I really don't see how it could be improved upon. The old ES series you noticed the frame (as small as it was) - the new F8000 series you are challenged to even see the frame - it is that good.

Interface:
I am not a huge user of the Samsung Apps, but the new layout is much better and mimics what you'd expect to see on a tablet or such. New quad-core processor does seem noticeably snappier in operation than the ES series.

Picture:
In my humble opinion, big improvements here over the 65" ES series. Not perfect by any means, but significantly improved. First, I did a pixel test using R/G/B/White screens. Amazingly, I lucked out and had no stuck or dead pixels. I test by looking at the solid color screen from about 1 foot away (at normal viewing distances you'd be challenged to even see a single dead or stuck pixel). There is one pixel (not even sure it is an entire pixel) that at 1 foot away appears to have an issue, but only when viewed off-angle. If I look straight-on or back up slightly, you don't see it at all. Certainly can't see it from intermediate viewing distance or true viewing distance. Don't know what that is about or why it is only visible from off-angle (perhaps something to do with 3D?). Anyhow, from my very bad experience of going through 4 ES series sets, and each getting worse (or just a different type of bad), this looks like a definite keeper.

Did a vertical banding test using a solid 50% gray screen. You can definitely make out vertical banding on this test from a normal viewing distance, but it is significantly more subtle than the 65" ES series. The ES series banding was dark and stuck out like a sore thumb. Further, the ES banding that I encountered on all 4 of my sets was not even uniform making it stand out even more. The banding I see on the 65" F8000 is definitely there, but lighter and the bands are more uniform. I am seeing them down the center and about 1/3 the way out on each side of center. Since I have experience with 4 different ES8000 sets (all 65") I can definitely tell you that the vertical banding is still there, but has been improved. Note to the wise: If you test for it on a larger set 60" or above, you'll likely see it if you know what you are looking for. If you don't watch a lot of soccer (my favorite), hockey, or golf you likely won't have an issue with it. I would challenge most casual TV watchers of network and cable TV shows to even see it. Bottom line on the F8000 - vertical banding is still there, diminished and I think tolerable. I've watched some movies, TV, and a soccer match and it is better that the ES.

No real issues with flashlighting or any clouding that I can make out. Blacks look pretty darn good, though I have yet to watch anything like Batman on it yet.

The picture itself is very good. I think better than the ES series. Despite some other comments here, I think the picture "pops" just as much as the ES series did. Colors look really good, very vivid picture. I do have background in color sciences, though I never go as far as to professionally calibrate my TV (sure, I know I probably should). Bottom line: the picture looks great. You'll be thrilled watching any type of TV show or series, animated stuff looks unreal (The Lorax - thus why they play that at Best Buy - probably looks OK on any set), and sports look great with the exception of panning shots (esp. soccer, hockey, golf) where you will make out the banding. Note: On my old ES series sets that I returned, I watched a ton of soccer and eventually my perception of the banding went away over time. Not saying this will happen for everyone, but if you appreciate the overall picture quality and don't think about the banding, you'll see much less of it.

Overall:
In my opinion, big improvement over last year's set and worth the pain I went through with my 4 returns to finally end up with the F8000. Most of us here are insane about our TVs. Reality is that there is no perfect TV. Edge lit LED-LCD sets like the 65" F8000 will all have some issues. I think the ones here are acceptable and overall this is a very good 65" set. To save yourself from going crazy, don't do a pixel test or banding test. Just watch it and see what you think. If you like what you see in your viewing conditions with your content, you have a keeper - and your sanity...

Another way to do this is to go buy a crappy LCD like I did as a stop-gap while I was TV-less waiting for the F8000. I picked up a Vizio 55". My wife who is as far from a videophile as one can be even commented how crappy the picture was on the Vizio. When the F8000 came this week and I returned the stop-gap Vizio, she said, "Oh boy, now I can really see the difference. Glad we have this TV."

Good luck all!

(PS - Any comments on what I may be seeing with that one weird pixel?)

thanks for the review.
So many people returned so many TV sets to get tolerable one.
You are not unique in this process.
When manufactures will take QC seriously, if ever?
Do we at AVS and other forums just minority that can be ignored?
And majority are Ok to pay $$$$ for TV set regardless of PQ, don't they?
This isn't just Samsung, but every other manufacturer.

thanks for the review.
So many people returned so many TV sets to get tolerable one.
You are not unique in this process.
When manufactures will take QC seriously, if ever?
Do we at AVS and other forums just minority that can be ignored?
And majority are Ok to pay $$$$ for TV set regardless of PQ, don't they?
This isn't just Samsung, but every other manufacturer.

Enjoy your set

It's sad, because it seems that the manufacturers really don't care about how many sets get returned - they make millions and they make their money regardless. The people who suffer are the retailers and the consumers. The retailers have to put up with all these returns - it's bad enough that stores like Best Buy are punishing the consumers now with their 15 day return policy. And the consumers who do care have to got through return after return to find one that doesn't have issues bad enough to ruin the enjoyment of the set. The manufacturers should get more heat from the retailers for having such shoddy quality control. The retailers aren't to blame, and neither is the consumer. The consumer deserves a set they can be happy with, and some of the issues I've seen with these sets are unbelievable for what they cost. Manufacturers just don't seem to care, or they care but don't want to spend the money on quality control.

I'm very happy that Samsung has made vast improvements with their clouding, but flashlighting, banding, and dead pixels remain an issue. Perhaps these are issues that can't be avoided with edge-lit LCDs, regardless of quality control?

It's sad, because it seems that the manufacturers really don't care about how many sets get returned - they make millions and they make their money regardless. The people who suffer are the retailers and the consumers. The retailers have to put up with all these returns - it's bad enough that stores like Best Buy are punishing the consumers now with their 15 day return policy. And the consumers who do care have to got through return after return to find one that doesn't have issues bad enough to ruin the enjoyment of the set. The manufacturers should get more heat from the retailers for having such shoddy quality control. The retailers aren't to blame, and neither is the consumer. The consumer deserves a set they can be happy with, and some of the issues I've seen with these sets are unbelievable for what they cost. Manufacturers just don't seem to care, or they care but don't want to spend the money on quality control.

I'm very happy that Samsung has made vast improvements with their clouding, but flashlighting, banding, and dead pixels remain an issue. Perhaps these are issues that can't be avoided with edge-lit LCDs, regardless of quality control?

I'm relatively new to the led game. When white credits come on a black background the black to the left and right of the credits is lighter than everywhere else. Is this clouding or is this normal? If its defective I want to swap my un60f8000 again, if its normal for this technology I won't.

I'm relatively new to the led game. When white credits come on a black background the black to the left and right of the credits is lighter than everywhere else. Is this clouding or is this normal? If its defective I want to swap my un60f8000 again, if its normal for this technology I won't.

I believe what you are describing is referred to as haloing, and it's normal.

I just checked Samsung's site where I get my updates, and under "downloads" there is no firmware to download. And I don't mean no new firmware, I mean no firmware! Like the last one that was available last time I checked is gone now, and there is nothing at all under downloads.

I just checked Samsung's site where I get my updates, and under "downloads" there is no firmware to download. And I don't mean no new firmware, I mean no firmware! Like the last one that was available last time I checked is gone now, and there is nothing at all under downloads.